Lisa Evans's bloghttp://earthjustice.org/blogs/lisa-evans
enPolitics as Dirty as Coal Ash: House Bill Lets Polluters Off the Hookhttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-july/politics-as-dirty-as-coal-ash-house-bill-lets-polluters-off-the-hook
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Politics as Dirty as Coal Ash: House Bill Lets Polluters Off the Hook</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Tuesday, July 21, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/coal-fired-power-plant-duke-energy_Wil-Thomas_flickr.jpg?itok=Ibo0igjj" width="800" height="600" alt="A Duke Energy coal fired power plant" title="A Duke Energy coal fired power plant" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>A Duke Energy coal fired power plant</p>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will vote on HR 1734, Rep. David McKinley’s (R- WV) sixth attempt at a coal ash bill that protects his largest campaign contributors. This year’s bill weakens, delays or removes critical health protections recently established by the EPA to keep communities safe from toxic coal ash. Big utilities and coal companies want the new rule gutted, and McKinley and the House majority are eager to oblige.</p>
<p>We need this rule. Just watch this video that explains coal ash and shows the disastrous consequences of not having coal ash protections in place.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ES9gPfKr8sY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Despite <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/02/06/coal-ash-is-spilling-into-north-carolinas-river-heres-why-its-so-hard-to-regulate/">devastating, toxic spills</a> in Tennessee and North Carolina, the House majority is dead set on delaying the implementation of the EPA rule. And despite headlines broadcasting the poisoning of drinking water, the bill provides relief to utilities responsible for the contamination—not to the public harmed by the deadly chemicals in their water.</p>
<p>Last December, the EPA, after decades of deliberation and declarations of support from half a million citizens, finally established regulatory safeguards for the disposal of toxic coal ash. Though the final rule is weak and full of compromises for the utility industry, it provides some relief for communities near the more than 1,000 leaking coal ash dumps in the U.S.</p>
<p>When the rule goes into effect this fall, contaminated groundwater will be identified and dangerous dumps closed. Coal ash’s witch’s brew of carcinogens, neurotoxins and other deadly chemicals, including arsenic, lead, chromium and thallium, will finally be subjected to reasonable disposal standards nationwide.</p>
<div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="media media-element-container media-story_image_center">
<img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/coal-ash-spill-tennessee-kingston_appalacian-voices_flickr.jpg" alt="The coal ash disaster at the Kingston Fossil Plant, Tennessee—three years after the spill." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">The coal ash disaster at the Kingston Fossil Plant, Tennessee—three years after the spill.</div></div></div>
<div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Appalachian Voices/Flickr</div></div></div>
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<p>The new EPA rule takes steps to fix a huge public health threat caused by the second largest industrial waste stream in the nation. Decades of unregulated dumping has caused water contamination at more than 200 sites; catastrophic ash spills that cost billions to remediate and cause irreparable damage; and a legacy of hundreds of aging “high-hazard” and “significant-hazard” ash lagoons that threaten human life, the environment and the economic lifelines of nearby communities should they fail.</p>
<p>Yet none of this matters to Rep. McKinley and the supporters of HR 1734. His bill guts the rule and rolls back critical public health safeguards. </p>
<p>The bill: </p>
<ul><li>eliminates the EPA’s ban on dumping toxic coal ash directly into drinking water aquifers</li>
<li>eliminates the requirement for utilities to immediately clean up toxic releases and notify the public</li>
<li>eliminates the guarantee of public access to information about water contamination and assessments of dangerous coal ash dams</li>
<li>delays new health and safety protections—potentially for 10 years</li>
<li>weakens the EPA mandate to close inactive ponds like the Dan River impoundment that burst last year by extending the closure deadline and allowing legacy ponds to operate without safeguards for at least six years</li>
<li>delays the closure of leaking, unlined ponds that contaminate water above health standards, allowing polluters to continue to dump into leaking ponds for an additional 8.5 years</li>
<li>eliminates the national standard for drinking water protection and cleanup of contaminated sites</li>
<li>prevents the EPA from ever regulating coal ash again, even in the face of new threats to health and the environment</li>
</ul><p>Before representatives weight in on this dirty bill, let’s make sure their votes are clean. They have a choice to either support polluters’ pocketbooks or to protect public health. Call your U.S. Representative <em>today</em> or <a href="https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1745&amp;_ga=1.50561513.1389300705.1436302616"><b>take action</b></a> to urge him or her to oppose a bill that guts the new, vital federal coal ash rule.</p>
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/air">Air</a>, <a href="/category/tags/coal">Coal</a>, <a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/congress">Congress</a>, <a href="/category/tags/environmental-protection-agency">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, <a href="/category/tags/refineries">Refineries</a>, <a href="/category/tags/water">Water</a></span>
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</div></div></div></div></div>Tue, 21 Jul 2015 16:19:24 +0000Lisa Evans33016 at http://earthjustice.orgTrick or Tweak? What Congress Is Really Doing to New Rules on Coal Ashhttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-april/trick-or-tweak-what-congress-is-really-doing-to-the-first-federal-protections-against-coal-ash
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Trick or Tweak? What Congress Is Really Doing to New Rules on Coal Ash</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Monday, April 27, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/coal-ash-pond-retired-plant-Moncure-NC_Waterkeeper-Alliance-Inc_Flickr.jpg?itok=UlnPxGlQ" width="800" height="600" alt="These are the 1985 and 1978 coal ash ponds next to the retired Cape Fear coal plant near Moncure, NC." title="These are the 1985 and 1978 coal ash ponds next to the retired Cape Fear coal plant near Moncure, NC." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>These are the 1985 and 1978 coal ash ponds next to the retired Cape Fear coal plant near Moncure, NC.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Waterkeeper Alliance Inc. / Flickr</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><em><strong>Tweak</strong>: /twēk/ (verb) to make a minor adjustment to, to fine-tune</em></p>
<p><em><strong>Trick:</strong> /trik/ (verb) deceive or outwit someone by being cunning or skillful</em></p>
<p>Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) tells everyone that his latest coal ash bill, <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr1734">H.R. 1734</a>, 'tweaks' the new EPA public health safeguard on coal ash that was published last Friday. Apparently, the congressman has a different understanding of the word because his bill tweaks the coal ash rule like these men (pictured below) have tweaked their elbows.</p>
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<img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/tweaked-thumbs.jpg" alt="Here's a more accurate image of how Congress plans to " tweak="" coal="" ash="" protections.="" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Here's a more accurate image of how Congress plans to "tweak" coal ash protections.</div></div></div>
<div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Plaster Cast Men / YouTube</div></div></div>
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<p>This might be amusing, if not for the real harm this dangerous bill poses to the health of families and communities across our nation. The House Energy and Commerce Committee's approval (32-19) last week of this <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-panel-approves-bill-tweak-coal-ash-standards-30347528">50-page tweak</a> is a blatant attempt to—let me introduce a new word to Rep. McKinley's vocabulary—"gut" the first-ever federal standards for coal ash disposal.</p>
<p><em><strong>Gut:</strong> /guht/ (verb) to destroy or plunder</em></p>
<p>Since 2008, three major coal ash disasters have threatened lives, livelihoods and water quality in Virginia, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Tennessee, including the largest toxic waste spill in U.S. history. Communities across our country near leaking coal ash ponds and landfills can wait no longer.</p>
<p>Despite the urgent need to protect us from toxic coal ash, this bill seeks to protect polluters and eliminate, weaken or delay critical public health guarantees in an EPA rule that took decades to create.</p>
<p>If passed, the bill:</p>
<ul><li><strong>Eliminates</strong> the EPA's ban on dumping toxic coal ash directly in drinking water;</li>
<li><strong>Eliminates</strong> the requirement for utilities to immediately clean up toxic releases and notify the public;</li>
<li><strong>Eliminates</strong> the guarantee of public access to information about water contamination and assessments of dangerous coal ash dams;</li>
<li><strong>Delays</strong> new health and safety protections--potentially for 10 years;</li>
<li><strong>Weakens</strong> the EPA mandate to close inactive (contaminated and abandoned) ponds like the Dan River impoundment that burst last year by extending the closure deadline and allowing legacy ponds to operate without safeguards for at least 6 years;</li>
<li><strong>Delays</strong> the closure of leaking unlined ponds that contaminate water above health standards (e.g., with arsenic), allowing polluters to continue to dump into leaking ponds for an additional 8.5 years; and</li>
<li><strong>Eliminates</strong> the national standard for drinking water protection and cleanup of contaminated sites.</li>
</ul><p>Trick or Tweak? Most definitely, trick.</p>
<p>As this dangerous bill moves to a vote in the full House, it is essential our lawmakers understand its true intent--the <em>gutting</em> of the first-ever federal standards to protect our families and communities from toxic coal ash, not a <em>tweak</em> as Rep. McKinley would <em>trick</em> you into believing.</p>
<div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="media media-element-container media-story_image_center">
<img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/campaign-contributions.JPG" alt="We'll give you two guesses on who was the biggest contributor to Rep. McKinley's political campaigns. Spoiler alert: it's coal!" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">We'll give you two guesses on who was the biggest contributor to Rep. McKinley's political campaigns. Spoiler alert: it's coal!</div></div></div>
<div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">OpenSecrets.org</div></div></div>
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<p>This article was first posted on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earthjustice/trick-or-tweak-what-congress-is-really-doing-to-the-first-ever-federal-protections-against-toxic-coal-ash_b_7110700.html"><em>The Huffington Post</em></a> on April 24, 2015.</p>
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</div></div></div></div></div>Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:24:01 +0000Lisa Evans32673 at http://earthjustice.orgBig Coal Can’t Stop, Won’t Stophttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-march/big-coal-can-t-stop-won-t-stop
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Big Coal Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Tuesday, March 24, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/coal-ash-factory_waterkeeper-alliance_flickr.jpg?itok=5XXW5U-b" width="800" height="600" alt="North Carolina Coal Ash Plant and Pond" title="North Carolina Coal Ash Plant and Pond" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>North Carolina coal ash plant and pond</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Photos courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>You have to acknowledge the tenacity of Rep. David McKinley (R, WV). Just three months (and only 42 working days) after EPA signed its first-ever coal ash <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule">rule</a>, McKinley has introduced a new coal ash <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/19/3635678/house-says-states-can-take-care-of-coal-ash/">bill</a> that guts the new EPA rule and protects the polluters who finance his <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00031681&amp;cycle=2014">campaigns</a>. </p>
<p>During a hearing last week on McKinley’s bill, it became clear that, though the EPA’s final coal ash rule already gave much away to the utilities, the House majority won’t abide by any reasonable rules governing toxic ash disposal. The result is an exceedingly dangerous bill that will permanently give polluters a free pass to dump the second largest industrial waste stream in the nation without any accountability to the communities they are fouling.</p>
<p>So how does the new bill eliminate, weaken and/or delay coal ash requirements critical to protecting public health and safety?</p>
<p>Let us count the ways. </p>
<ul><li><strong>Denies the public info concerning contaminated sites and dangerous dams. </strong>Communities will likely be unable to find out if there are toxic chemicals in their drinking water, spills in their neighborhood, or unstable dams above their homes. The new EPA rule requires that this critical info be posted on a publicly accessible website. </li>
<li><strong>Maintains a free-for-all on dumping coal ash directly in drinking water. </strong>Unlike the EPA rule, the new bill contains <u>no</u> ban on building and operating a coal ash pond near aquifers. Ponds that are located near aquifers now—and there are many—can continue to dump toxic waste, and new dumps can be built on top of drinking water sources. </li>
<li><strong>Eliminates the rule’s national standard for drinking water protection and cleanups</strong>. According to this bill, states will not be bound by federal health standards—they can choose the level of hazardous chemicals like arsenic, lead, molybdenum, mercury and thallium that they will allow in the groundwater. </li>
<li><strong>Allows legacy ponds to take their time in closing up shop. </strong>The bill will likely delay cleanup of legacy sites for years and allow contaminated and abandoned ponds, like the Dan River dam that burst last February, to escape all safety requirements—including inspections-- for up to 7 years. The bill also contains a loophole that would allow contaminated and abandoned ponds to escape all closure requirements whatsoever, if a utility starts dumping non-coal ash waste in legacy (inactive) coal ash ponds. </li>
<li><strong>Lets the polluter off the hook in responding to and notifying the public of toxic spills.</strong> Unlike the EPA rule, the bill does NOT require utilities to notify anyone of toxic spills and does not require immediate cleanup. </li>
<li><strong>Eliminates the state’s duty to require cleanup of toxic spills. </strong>According to the bill, the utility industry need not clean up toxic spills, if states don’t want to require it. Toxic cleanups are costly and if you have friends in high places, you may not have to do it at all. We know of at least <a href="http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/our-opinion/duke-energy-needs-to-clean-up-its-mess-1.451054?page=1">one state</a> that famously refuses to require coal clean ups. </li>
<li><strong>Establishes an inconsistent patchwork of state programs</strong>, which need not meet <u>any</u> standard of protection for health and the environment and which will cause great uncertainty and inequality nationwide.</li>
</ul><p>Last December, the EPA bent over backwards to satisfy the concerns of industry, recyclers and states, but clearly the agency didn’t do enough in the minds of the majority leadership. Rep. McKinley and his coal industry bullies won’t stop until coal ash is allowed to continue to harm the health, economy and environment of communities near more than <a href="file:///C:/Users/jknoblauch/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/V0F1IWTH/earthjustice.org/features/map-coal-ash">1000 coal ash dumpsites</a> across the country. </p>
<p>Earthjustice and our allies are fighting back by letting Congress know that Americans nationwide want to be protected from toxic ash. Nearly 200 public interest groups and private and impacted citizens are letting Congress know that they oppose the new House bill and that they expect their elected officials to keep our communities safe and our water and air free of toxic chemicals. </p>
<p><em><a href="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/Evans%20Testimony_Updated.doc">Click here</a> to download my full testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy.</em></p>
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</div></div></div></div></div>Tue, 24 Mar 2015 22:04:13 +0000Lisa Evans32541 at http://earthjustice.orgFive More Things You Need to Know About Coal Ashhttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-december/five-more-things-you-need-to-know-about-coal-ash
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Five More Things You Need to Know About Coal Ash</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Monday, December 08, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/TVA-wreath-shot-800.jpg?itok=wM1Fv7iR" width="800" height="600" alt="The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008." title="The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008. One billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled from the Tennessee Valley Authority&#039;s Kingston Fossil Plant, covering 300 acres, destroying homes, poisoning rivers and contaminating coves and residential drinking waters.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Photo courtesy of United Mountain Defense</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Last night on <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/duke-energy-on-coal-ash-waste-at-dan-river/"><em>60 Minutes</em></a><em>, </em>journalist Leslie Stahl made Lynn Good, the CEO of Duke Energy, look bad during an episode about coal ash—a byproduct of coal burning that’s dumped into mostly unlined and unmonitored ponds across the country. </p>
<p>As Good tried to smile and defend the decades of delay in cleaning up coal ash sites by arguing that more study is needed, the veteran newswoman blew right through her smokescreen.</p>
<p>“Studying is code for stalling,” said Stahl.</p>
<p>And stall they have.</p>
<p>Despite several high profile coal ash spills and an Earthjustice lawsuit, both the coal industry and the federal EPA have dragged their feet on strengthening regulations for coal ash for years. <a href="http://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-july/a-coal-ash-clean-up-job-not-well-done">The most recent spill occurred last February</a>, when a coal ash pond owned by Duke Energy unleashed thousands of tons of coal ash into North Carolina’s Dan River.</p>
<p>As Good delays cleanup and denies ongoing harm, Duke’s leaking dams threaten real people—and not just in North Carolina, where the company handles more than 100 million tons of coal ash waste.</p>
<p>The $6.4 million/year CEO undoubtedly does not live next to one of the nation’s 1,070 toxic coal ash ponds—70 percent of which are in areas where income is below the national average. But there are plenty of people who do.</p>
<p><em>60 Minutes</em> deftly exposed a CEO unwilling to take timely action to protect the health and environment of North Carolinians. Here are five more things you need to know about Duke Energy and coal ash:</p>
<ol><li>The amount of toxic coal ash that has spilled in the U.S. in the last six years is more than 100 times the amount of oil that spilled in the <em>Exxon Valdez</em> <a href="http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887217,00.html" target="_blank">disaster</a>.<br />
</li>
<li>While the utility industry wants more time, 2,175 days have already passed since the 1.2 billion-gallon coal ash spill in <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/coal-ash-130-million-tons-of-waste-01-10-2009/">Kingston, TN,</a> and not a single regulation in the nation has been changed to prevent another major toxic disaster.<br />
</li>
<li>Duke Energy has not only polluted water and violated environmental laws at <em>every </em>plant it operates in North Carolina, the company also has contaminated water at its dumps across the country.<br />
</li>
<li>Serious drinking water contamination has occurred near <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nc-hamlet-residents-worry-over-coal-ash-ponds-1" target="_blank">Duke’s Buck Plant in Salisbury, NC</a>, where the powerful carcinogen hexavalent chromium was discovered, yet Duke has yet to supply the affected families with bottled water. <br />
</li>
<li>Duke, as well as the entire utility industry, is hiding under the veil of “national security concerns” to continue blocking the public from obtaining information about its dangerous coal ash dams.</li>
</ol><p>Clearly what Good thinks is good—for Duke and the rest of the utility industry—is injurious to the nation’s health and environment. Let’s end this double-talk, delay and damage. Protect the nation from toxic coal ash by calling the White House (<strong>tel: 202-456-1111</strong>), and tell President Obama that you want coal ash listed as a hazardous waste.</p>
<p>Check out the <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/mMNhMyK3d3Qkaaq15NvLHMvP2rlEMvgV/the-spill-at-dan-river/" target="_blank">entire <em>60 Minutes</em> interview</a>:</p>
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal">Coal</a>, <a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/water">Water</a></span>
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<div class="field field--name-field-workflow-state field--type-list-text field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Workflow State:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Published</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-authored-on field--type-datetime field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Authored On:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><span class="date-display-single">Monday, December 8, 2014 - 11:45</span></div></div></div> </div>
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</div></div></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-index-page field--type-node-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Index Page:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/content/ebrief-december-2014">Top Stories in December</a></div></div></div>Mon, 08 Dec 2014 19:45:00 +0000Lisa Evans32182 at http://earthjustice.orgNew Report: Coal Ash Reuse Threatens Drinking Water Supplieshttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-november/new-report-threat-to-drinking-water-from-coal-ash-reuse
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>New Report: Coal Ash Reuse Threatens Drinking Water Supplies</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Tuesday, November 18, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin-800.jpg?itok=wLbO8USe" width="800" height="600" alt="A bluff collapse near the Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin that sent coal ash and debris into Lake Michigan." title="A bluff collapse near the Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin that sent coal ash and debris into Lake Michigan." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>A bluff collapse near the Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin that sent coal ash and debris into Lake Michigan. <a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/proxy/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin.pdf" target="_blank">Read the report &#187;</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via Clean Wisconsin</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/index.php?page=1" target="_blank">Clean Wisconsin’s</a> new report, <a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/proxy/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Don’t Drink the Water</em></a>, demonstrates that coal ash reuse may pose significant public health threats. Today’s report highlights the risks to residents of southeast Wisconsin, where more than one million tons of toxic coal ash has been used in building projects near drinking water wells. The report documents how dangerous chemicals have made their way into the drinking water of hundreds of Wisconsin citizens.</p>
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<a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/proxy/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin-map_800.jpg" alt="" /></a>
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<div class="field__item even">Map of 399 documented coal ash “reuse” project sites, totaling over one million tons, in Waukesha, Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha counties. <a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/proxy/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin.pdf" target="_blank">Read the report »</a></div>
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<p>Though it focuses on Wisconsin, the report highlights a national problem. Use of coal ash as construction fill has caused water contamination at sites across the nation. Each year, more than 20 million tons of coal ash are placed as fill without adequate safeguards to prevent hazardous chemicals from entering our water.</p>
<p>Since 2006, Earthjustice has worked to obtain a federal rule to protect communities from the dangerous dumping of toxic ash. In 2012, we brought suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which resulted in a consent decree requiring EPA to complete a national coal ash rule—the first-ever federal rule—by Dec. 19, 2014.</p>
<p>There is great reason to be concerned. According to the EPA, coal ash disposed outside of landfills—used as fill and on unpaved roads near residential areas—has contaminated water at more than 16 sites in 9 states. Environmental groups have documented an additional 10 poisoned sites in four more states. This number greatly underestimates the total number of poisoned sites, since monitoring at fill sites is seldom required. Several of these contaminated sites became Superfund sites, where the state or federal government had to provide a safe source of drinking water and require expensive cleanups.</p>
<p>Examples include:</p>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/coal-ash-towns-toxic-water-embodies-national-challenge/" target="_blank">Town of Pines</a> in Northwest Indiana, where toxic ash used as fill and on unpaved roads contaminated drinking water with arsenic, chromium, boron and molybdenum;</li>
<li><a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2013/05/chesapeake-fly-ash-fight-yields-little-resolution" target="_blank">Battlefield Golf Course</a> in Chesapeake, Virginia, where ash was used to construct a golf course, contaminating nearby waterways with arsenic, lead and chromium; and</li>
<li><a href="http://earthjustice.org/blog/2011-february/tr-ash-talk-coal-ash-dirtying-maryland-s-waters" target="_blank">Gambrills, Maryland</a>, where coal ash was used to fill a sand and gravel quarry, resulting in the poisoning of drinking water with arsenic, cadmium, lead and thallium.</li>
</ul><p>The list goes on.</p>
<p>Today, Earthjustice stands with <a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/index.php?page=1" target="_blank">Clean Wisconsin</a> to call for an investigation of wells near coal ash reuse sites for the following reasons: to determine the source of the dangerous chemicals, to identify <u>all</u> wells that are contaminated, and to determine if other coal ash pollutants, like arsenic, lead and hexavalent chromium, are also in water used by Wisconsin residents.</p>
<p>In four short weeks, we hope we can celebrate a solution to the national problem when EPA releases its final coal ash rule. For the safety of all communities, EPA’s upcoming coal ash rule must address the problems described in <a href="http://www.cleanwisconsin.org/proxy/files/dont-drink-the-water-report-clean-wisconsin.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Don’t Drink the Water</em></a>. Evidence in Wisconsin and across the nation shows that coal ash, used as fill, threatens the safety of our water. By Dec. 19, we will know whether EPA has fulfilled its duty to keep this toxic industrial waste far from our faucets.</p>
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/tr-ash-talk">Tr-Ash Talk</a>, <a href="/category/tags/water">Water</a></span>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:26:54 +0000Lisa Evans32106 at http://earthjustice.orgWill the EPA Coal Ash Rule Survive?http://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-october/will-the-epa-coal-ash-rule-survive
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Will the EPA Coal Ash Rule Survive?</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Tuesday, October 28, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/dan-river-coal-ash_waterkeeper-alliance.jpg?itok=Qf2Dxjyw" width="800" height="600" alt="" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Coal ash contaminated sludge from North Carolina&#039;s Dan River</p>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Sometime after midnight, the White House made it official&mdash;its review of the Environmental Protection Agency&rsquo;s (EPA) coal ash rule has begun. The quiet <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/EO/eoDashboard.jsp" target="_blank">posting</a> of the rule by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sets in motion OMB&rsquo;s official regulatory review pursuant to a 1993 <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/inforeg/eo12866/eo12866_10041993.pdf" target="_blank">executive order</a>. That this process officially began under the cover of darkness is an apt metaphor. The OMB regulatory review is a black box&mdash;opaque, inscrutable and exceedingly dangerous. Rules never come out the way they go in&mdash;the offices of OMB are littered with crumpled pages of strong rules gone soft after revision by the White House.</p>
<p>Painful memories of the White House&rsquo;s 2010 evisceration of Lisa Jackson&rsquo;s proposed coal ash rule still linger. On Oct 15, 2009, in response to the largest toxic waste spill in world history, Administrator Jackson sent the White House a rule that would regulate coal ash as hazardous waste and thereby authorize federal oversight, establish national standards, and close leaking and unstable ash ponds, like the one that collapsed in<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/us/25sludge.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=2&amp;" target="_blank"> Kingston, Tennessee</a>.</p>
<p>But on October 16, 2009 (the very next day), Duke Energy and several other utilities began a barrage of meetings with the White House that didn&rsquo;t end for six months. When the smoke cleared, the White House handed back a rule shot full of holes. The record reflects that OMB added a weak non-hazardous waste rule and, even worse, a third option allowing unlined coal ash ponds to continue to operate without end.</p>
<p>After six years of the White House substantively weakening and delaying other EPA rules, we have great concern about this process and the rule&rsquo;s vulnerability to 11th hour <a href="http://www.progressivereform.org/eyeonoira.cfm" target="_blank">industry lobbying</a>. The incontrovertible record of environmental harm caused by coal ash&mdash;the toxic spills and widespread coal ash mismanagement&mdash;demands a federal rule that will protect <a href="http://earthjustice.org/features/coal-ash-contaminated-sites" target="_blank">American communities</a>. The enabling statute, the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/lrca.html" target="_blank">Resource Conservation and Recovery Act</a>, requires no less.</p>
<p>Yet the White House&rsquo;s record of mangled EPA rules and unexplained delay demonstrates that their regulatory review, with their reliance on unbalanced cost-benefit analyses, is <a href="http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1741&amp;context=pelr" target="_blank">out of control</a>. OMB&rsquo;s review introduces uncertainty at the end of a rulemaking process that must, by law, be based on science and transparency and governed by the requirements of the enabling statute. The only certainty that remains in this final leg is that EPA must sign a coal ash rule no later than December 19, 2014. The agency is bound to do so by a <a href="http://earthjustice.org/documents/legal-document/pdf/coal-ash-consent-decree" target="_blank">consent decree</a> with Earthjustice lodged in 2013.</p>
<p>The great uncertainty is whether the final rule will prevent another world-class disaster. The White House whitewashed this problem before, and it may do so again. Those threatened by the nation&rsquo;s 1400 toxic coal ash dumps are on high alert.</p></div></div></div><!--
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/environmental-protection-agency">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, <a href="/category/tags/obama-administration">Obama administration</a>, <a href="/category/tags/tr-ash-talk">Tr-Ash Talk</a></span>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:46:37 +0000Lisa Evans32036 at http://earthjustice.orgTr-Ash Talk: Duke Spends $10 Million to Clean Up Image, Not Coal Ashhttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-october/duke-energy-spends-10-million-to-clean-up-image-not-coal-ash
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Tr-Ash Talk: Duke Spends $10 Million to Clean Up Image, Not Coal Ash</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Thursday, October 09, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/buck-steam-station-nc_duke-energy-800.jpg?itok=ypz21V7M" width="800" height="600" alt="Buck Steam Station in North Carolina." title="Buck Steam Station in North Carolina." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Buck Steam Station in North Carolina. Good can start by offering bottled water to worried citizens living next to Duke’s leaking coal ash lagoons at their Buck Steam Station.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Duke Energy Photo</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Duke Energy <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/09/24/5196282/duke-energy-creates-10-million.html#.VCRpMbv_mwMn" target="_blank">announced</a> recently a $10 million &quot;Water Resources Fund&quot; to be allocated for projects that promote clean water, habitat and public access in five southeastern states. While laudable, the action does not distract from the ongoing immense toll to the environment and health being exacted by Duke Energy nationwide. The onetime grant of $10 million, to be doled out at $2 million a year for five years, amounts to less than one thousandth of one percent of the company&rsquo;s assets of $115 billion. This is equivalent to an average Joe, earning $45,000 a year, buying a $4 latte.</p>
<p>For this dubious largess, Duke cannot hope to improve its image. While Duke pays for kiosks along Carolina waterways, dozens of communities near 29 power plants owned or previously owned by Duke seek real investment to close and clean up more than 100 toxic coal ash lagoons nationwide. The Carolinas are home to nearly 40 of these leaking impoundments, but the majority of Duke&rsquo;s hazardous dump sites are scattered across Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Florida.</p>
<p>While conservation projects are undeniably worthwhile, Duke&rsquo;s green sheen ploy is alarmingly unresponsive to the urgent need for provision of clean water to blighted communities, cleanup of water poisoned with toxic chemicals, and closure of dangerous earthen dams that threaten deadly spills.</p>
<p>CEO Lynn Good grabbed a headline for proffering this modest gift. Yet this act was not an honest demonstration of concern for health and the environment, especially when opportunities to assist impacted communities are boundless. Good can start by offering bottled water to <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nc-hamlet-residents-worry-over-coal-ash-ponds-0" target="_blank">worried citizens</a> living next to Duke&rsquo;s leaking coal ash lagoons at their Buck Steam Station. And she should focus on the real problem&mdash;getting rid of hazardous waste everywhere her company has dumped it.</p></div></div></div><!--
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/tr-ash-talk">Tr-Ash Talk</a>, <a href="/category/tags/water">Water</a></span>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:58:10 +0000Lisa Evans31970 at http://earthjustice.orgMore Coal Ash Disasters in Waitinghttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-september/more-coal-ash-disasters-in-waiting
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>More Coal Ash Disasters in Waiting</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Monday, September 29, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/PC_Slideshow_001_0.jpg?itok=toRsXBPY" width="800" height="600" alt="A coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008 destroyed or damaged two dozen nearby homes" title="Coal ash flooded this Tennessee home in 2008" /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>A coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008 destroyed or damaged two dozen nearby homes</p>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Late last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quietly <a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys2/index.htm" target="_blank">released inspection reports</a> of coal ash ponds at 26 plants in 11 states. At eight plants, the agency found toxic lagoons in poor condition, encompassing almost a third of all the sites. These coal ash ponds lacked proper maintenance and/or routine safety analyses to ensure prevention of another disaster like the massive spills at the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/us/27sludge.html?_r=0" target="_blank">TVA Kingston plant</a> in 2008 and Duke Energy&rsquo;s <a href="http://http://www.catawbariverkeeper.org/issues/coal-ash-1/duke-energy-dan-river-coal-ash-spill-what-do-we-currently-know-what-do-we-need-to-know" target="_blank">Dan River Plant</a> last February.</p>
<p>These latest inspections are the EPA&rsquo;s 12th round of published reports. After the largest toxic waste spill in U.S. history in Tennessee in 2008, the EPA initiated dam inspections to assess the condition of the nation&rsquo;s 1,070 coal ash ponds. To date, the EPA has conducted more than 550 inspections. This latest round confirms the alarming conclusions of hundreds of prior inspections&mdash;approximately 25 percent of the nation&rsquo;s largest toxic lagoons are in &ldquo;poor&rdquo; condition. The EPA found less than half of these coal ash impoundments in &ldquo;satisfactory&rdquo; condition.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Yet this deeply disturbing news has triggered no alarms and even less action.</p>
<p>The EPA continues to identify significant problems at coal ash dams nationwide, but no federal rule requires that the problems be fixed. All fixes are voluntary, and to make matters worse, the EPA conducts no follow-up on its inspections. When and how the problems are fixed is totally up to each utility. Without oversight, communities near potentially deadly toxic lagoons are in grave danger.</p>
<p>Who should be concerned? From 2009&ndash;2014, the EPA identified 152 coal ash ponds in poor condition. Below are the eight plants with newly identified poor-rated ponds:</p>
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<li>Columbia Municipal Power Plant, Columbia, MO: High hazard pond rated poor.</li>
<li><a href="http://earthjustice.org/cases/2014/ending-dangerous-coal-ash-pollution-into-florida-s-apalachicola-river">Gulf Power Plant Scholz</a>, Sneads, FL: Significant hazard pond rated poor.</li>
<li>City of Ames Power Plant, Ames, IA: Significant hazard pond rated poor.</li>
<li>J.B. Sims Power Plant, Grand Haven Michigan: Two significant hazard ponds rated poor.</li>
<li>NRG Power Midwest Elrama Power Station, Elrama, PA: Significant hazard pond rated poor.</li>
<li>Gainesville Regional Utility Deerhaven Plant, Gainesville, FL: Low hazard pond rated poor.</li>
<li>Plant Crisp, Warwick, GA: Low hazard coal ash pond rated poor.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>​Let&rsquo;s examine one site in more detail: The conditions at the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys2/columbia_mo_fnl_rpt.pdf" target="_blank">Columbia Municipal Power Plant</a> in Missouri are especially alarming. The EPA found that Columbia&rsquo;s high-hazard coal ash pond may not be able to survive a significant rain event without overtopping or spilling. For over six decades, Columbia has dumped toxic coal ash sludge in an unlined lagoon originally built as a recreational lake in the 1800s. In 1980, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers determined that the impoundment could only pass 50 percent of a Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) event without overtopping. (A PMP event is defined as the flood discharge that may be expected from the most severe combination of critical meteorological and hydrologic conditions that are reasonably possible in the region.) Currently, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources requires that impoundments pass 75 percent of a PMP event. The EPA&rsquo;s report concludes that dam performance is vulnerable to potential problems during a variety of conditions beyond a 50 percent PMP (heavy rain). According to the EPA, in the event of a dam break, loss of human life would be expected as well as high economic damages, and the impact would extend up to two miles from the plant.</p>
<p>Yet apparently, the EPA is in no hurry. Although the agency only recently released these reports, they are not new. The dam inspections were conducted more than two years ago&mdash;which raises the question of why these deadly toxic lagoons are not made safe immediately after problems are uncovered. The fact that two-year-old inspections are just coming to light reveals the incomprehensible lack of urgency by the EPA for protecting public safety and the environment.</p>
<p>This situation may change on December 19, when <a href="http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/epa-agrees-to-deadline-for-first-ever-u-s-coal-ash-regulations">the EPA finalizes the first federal coal ash rule</a>. If it doesn&rsquo;t, or if the rule fails to require closure of dangerous toxic lagoons, more collapses are sure to come. &nbsp;</p></div></div></div><!--
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal">Coal</a>, <a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/environmental-protection-agency">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, <a href="/category/tags/obama-administration">Obama administration</a>, <a href="/category/tags/tr-ash-talk">Tr-Ash Talk</a></span>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:25:55 +0000Lisa Evans31923 at http://earthjustice.orgIndustry's Coal Ash Claims are Bogushttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-september/industry-s-coal-ash-claims-are-bogus
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Industry&#039;s Coal Ash Claims are Bogus</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Friday, September 12, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/coal-ash-river_tva-800.jpg?itok=uN9d945K" width="800" height="600" alt="The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008." title="The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008 flooded the Emory and Clinch Rivers with toxic ash.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-field-image-credit field--type-text field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Tennessee Valley Authority Photo</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><em>Editor's note: This blog post was co-written with <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sslesinger/">Scott Slesinger</a>, legislative director at NRDC</em></p>
<p>It’s been several years now since the Environmental Protection Agency proposed managing coal combustion residuals (CCR, aka coal ash) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). While coal ash waste itself can be <a href="/coalash" target="_blank">quite dangerous</a> when it is disposed, there are many safe uses of it when it is properly recycled. In fact, earlier this year the EPA declared the use of encapsulated fly ash and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) sludge in concrete and wallboard <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sslesinger/epa_has_announced_that_the.html" target="_blank">to be safe</a>; these two uses account for roughly half of all coal ash recycling practices. While making this official is good news, it doesn’t change the fact that simply dumping coal ash waste into an unlined pit (as remains the norm) presents a significant threat of water contamination—thus the need for the long-delayed rulemaking.</p>
<p>Over these years one of most common arguments of the Edison Electric Institute, utility industry and the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) has been that declaring coal ash a “special waste” under RCRA would create a “stigma” against recycling the product. In fact, they argue the mere <i>discussion</i> of managing coal ash as a hazardous waste has <i>already</i> harmed the coal ash recycling industry. But let’s look at the facts:</p>
<p>Using data <a href="http://www.acaa-usa.org/Publications/Production-Use-Reports" target="_blank">provided for free online</a> by the American Coal Ash Association, we made a direct comparison between two equivalent products: fly ash used in concrete, one of the major coal ash recycling practices, and Portland and masonry cement production (fly ash can be a substitute or supplement for Portland cement in concrete, and masonry cement is just a different formulation that still uses Portland cement; this cement data comes <a href="http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cement/" target="_blank">from the US Geological Survey</a>). If the stigma really was having an impact on the market, non-fly ash substitutes should be rising while fly ash should be plummeting. While USGS has numbers up to 2013, ACAA’s latest numbers only go to 2012. Here’s the resulting chart:</p>
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<img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/story/public/Chart_1_0.jpg" alt="Cement production and fly ash use from 2002-2012." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden">
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<div class="field__item even">Industry claims that cement production and coal ash reuse are debunked by their own data.</div>
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<p>Clearly, Portland and masonry cement were hit pretty hard too. Since the ACAA claims that coal ash has been stigmatized ever since 2008, We went a step further and compare how each has done compared to 2008. For an extra layer of comparison, we threw in overall construction spending (<a href="https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/historical_data.html" target="_blank">from the US Census Bureau</a>, adjusted for inflation):</p>
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<img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/story/public/Chart_2.jpg" alt="Cement production and fly ash use from 2002-2012." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden">
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<div class="field__item even">Cement production and coal ash reuse along with construction spending all dropped during the recession.</div>
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<p>Again, it looks like the real take away from the data is that it’s been a rough recovery for the construction industry as a whole. Construction spending and demand have suffered, and with it so has production of common construction materials. Despite their own data, the American Coal Ash Association looks to their “Production and Use Survey” and blames the proposed rule rather than the economy for the downturn:</p>
<p>"The beneficial use of coal ash has been harmed by regulatory uncertainty surrounding the rulemaking EPA commenced in the wake of a December 2008 failure of a coal ash disposal facility in Tennessee."</p>
<p>Perhaps if it weren’t so cheap under present standards to simply dump coal ash waste in unlined pits more companies would feel inclined to safely and productively recycle coal ash? Utilities seem to be quite happy with the status quo standards under which we’ve seen the Kingston TVA and North Carolina Dan River spills. On the other hand, requiring a proper level of care in the disposal of coal ash should raise the price of disposal, which in turn would make safe and productive recycling an even better deal.</p>
<p>If properly regulated would coal ash stigma really kick in? History says no. EPA asked for cases where regulating a waste stream caused a decrease in the recycling alternative to disposal. Of the many waste streams regulated since 1980, they can’t identify one.<a href="#fn1"><span style="vertical-align:super;">[1]</span></a> <a href="http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640-9634" target="_blank">Despite</a> the history, the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) insisted that the cost-benefit analysis of the rule assume the stigma against coal ash would last for 50 years. That unjustified analysis needs to be ignored and the people living near these sites be protected. Stigma is a bogus issue. The industry’s own data show there is no stigma, and there is no reason why lives shouldn’t be protected and a strong final rule approved by this Administration this fall.</p>
<p><i>Special thanks to Sean Alcorn of NRDC for the charts prepared from the ACAA data.</i><br /><br /></p>
<p id="fn1"><span style="vertical-align:super;">[1]</span> The full Regulatory Impact Analysis (as edited by OMB) is available at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640-0003" target="_blank">http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640-0003</a>. The discussion of prior experience in stigma starts on p.157.</p></div></div></div><!--
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<span class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/coal">Coal</a>, <a href="/category/tags/coal-ash">Coal Ash</a>, <a href="/category/tags/environmental-protection-agency">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, <a href="/category/tags/obama-administration">Obama administration</a>, <a href="/category/tags/tr-ash-talk">Tr-Ash Talk</a></span>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Fri, 12 Sep 2014 20:00:10 +0000Lisa Evans31890 at http://earthjustice.orgAsh in Lungs: How Breathing Coal Ash is Hazardous to Your Healthhttp://earthjustice.org/blog/2014-july/ash-in-lungs-how-breathing-coal-ash-is-hazardous-to-your-health
<div class="field field--name-title field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><h1>Ash in Lungs: How Breathing Coal Ash is Hazardous to Your Health</h1></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-submitted-by field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">By <a href="http://earthjustice.org/users/lisa-evans" title="Lisa Evans">Lisa Evans</a> <span class="blog-date"> | Thursday, July 31, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-custom-share field--type-ds field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
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<div class="field-item even"> <img src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/coal-ash-bokoshe_800.jpg?itok=v5bhReol" width="800" height="600" alt="Toxic coal ash dust at the Making Money Having Fun Landfill in Bokoshe, OK." title="Toxic coal ash dust at the Making Money Having Fun Landfill in Bokoshe, OK." /><div class="field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Toxic coal ash dust at the Making Money Having Fun Landfill in Bokoshe, OK.</p>
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<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Take a deep breath—but not too deep if you live near a coal ash dumpsite, because the air pollution from coal ash dust can be dangerous.</p>
<p>Today, <a href="http://www.psr.org/" target="_blank">Physicians for Social Responsibility</a> and Earthjustice released a new report on the harm to public health from breathing toxic coal ash titled <a href="http://earthjustice.org/documents/report/ash-in-lungs-how-breathing-coal-ash-is-hazardous-to-your-health" target="_blank"><i>Ash in Lungs: How Breathing Coal Ash is Hazardous to Your Health</i></a>. In communities across the nation, airborne dust from thousands of coal ash lagoons, landfills, minefills and reuse projects threaten our health. Co-authored by <a href="http://earthjustice.org/50states/2013/alan-lockwood">Dr. Alan Lockwood</a>, who also wrote <a href="http://www.psr.org/resources/psr-bookshelf/the-silent-epidemic-coal-and.html" target="_blank"><i>The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health</i></a> and is emeritus professor at the University of Buffalo, the report describes the harmful effects of simply breathing near coal ash disposal sites.</p>
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<a href="/documents/report/ash-in-lungs-how-breathing-coal-ash-is-hazardous-to-your-health" target="_blank"><img alt="Ash in Lungs: How Breathing Coal Ash is Hazardous to Your Health" src="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ash-in-lungs0_800.jpg" /></a>
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<div class="field__item even">Despite the threat, no federal requirements exist to control fugitive toxic dust. <a href="/documents/report/ash-in-lungs-how-breathing-coal-ash-is-hazardous-to-your-health" target="_blank">Read the report »</a></div>
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<p>Fly ash particles (a major component of coal ash) can become lodged in the deepest part of your lungs, where they trigger asthma, inflammation and immunological reactions. Studies link these particulates to the four leading causes of death in the U.S.: heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases and stroke. In addition, respirable crystalline silica in coal ash can also lodge in the lungs and cause silicosis or scarring of lung tissue, which can result in disabling and sometimes fatal lung disease and cancer. Lastly, the presence of heavy metals in coal ash, such as lead, arsenic and hexavalent chromium, and the radioactivity of some ashes may increase the harm caused by inhalation. </p>
<p>To prevent further harm to public health, the EPA must act decisively with its <a href="http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2014/epa-agrees-to-deadline-for-first-ever-u-s-coal-ash-regulations">upcoming coal ash rule</a> to stop exposure to toxic dust. No federal rules prevent toxic dust from blowing into fence line communities, despite EPA’s acknowledgement that threats to health exist when coal ash is not covered daily at coal ash landfills. In fact, <a href="https://www.efis.psc.mo.gov/mpsc/commoncomponents/viewdocument.asp?DocId=935784779" target="_blank">the EPA found</a> that there is “a strong likelihood that dry-handling [of coal ash] would lead to the [national air quality standards] being exceeded absent fugitive dust controls.” </p>
<p>The EPA concluded that daily controls are needed to prevent unhealthy levels of particulates. Yet the great majority of states do not require daily cover or controls. </p>
<p>Protection of citizens living near coal ash can only be accomplished by federally enforceable regulations. Communities across the nation are hurt by toxic dust because adequate controls are not in place to protect public health. Often those harmed are communities of color or low-income communities whose economic hardships make them even more vulnerable to injury. Many of the sites where damage to health has already occurred are located in states that currently have some of the worst coal ash programs in the nation, including Kentucky, <a href="http://earthjustice.org/blog/2013-december/five-years-later-and-the-story-of-the-tva-spill-continues">Alabama</a>, Oklahoma and New Mexico. </p>
<p>With damage to health from coal ash dust documented across America, our hopes lie with the EPA to protect the nation from this preventable harm. </p>
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<div class="field-collection-container clearfix"><div class="field field--name-field-submission-form field--type-field-collection field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Submission Form:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"></div></div></div>Thu, 31 Jul 2014 16:03:11 +0000Lisa Evans31715 at http://earthjustice.org